Cigna provides data on cost, quality of services to web site

Cigna, which last year began to post cost and quality information for inpatient services performed at hospitals on a Web site for members, this week added data for outpatient services performed at stand-alone surgical centers, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (Perotin, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9/20).

The Web site includes cost and quality information for 21 inpatient services, 16 outpatient services and three medical imaging services performed by specific health care facilities (Brune, Houston Chronicle, 9/21).

Among other outpatient services, the Web site includes cost and quality information for colonoscopies, endoscopies and cardiac catheterizations (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9/20).

The Web site includes information on the price that Cigna pays for the services under contracts with providers and the share of the cost covered by members.

In addition, the Web site rates providers on quality of their services with one to three stars based on data from the National Quality Forum, Medicare and other third-party sources, according to David Toomey, a Cigna regional vice president (Houston Chronicle, 9/21).

Cigna spokesperson Gwyn Dilday said, "We're committed to providing members with the information that they need to make more informed and value-conscious health care decisions," adding, "It helps consumers have information that is meaningful and actionable to them."

By 2008, Cigna hopes to post cost and quality information for individual physicians on the Web site, Dilday said (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9/20).